Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Drove into Gwalior in the afternoon. Was
stunned to see guys driving or riding with rifles slung across their shoulders!
Felt as if had gone back to the wild West, only difference being horses
replaced by cars and bikes.

Checked into India hotel which is in front
of the Gwalior railway station. Parking for the hotel guests is in the parking
lot of the railway station. Pay and Park. The hotel rooms are on the first
floor and on the ground

floor there is the famous India Coffee House. This was
where I had the best coffee ever since entering Madhya Pradesh! You can also
have all the South Indian delicacies like idli vada and dosas here.

In the evening we went for the Son et
Lumiere show at Gwalior fort which houses the Man Singh palace built by Man
Singh Tomar in 1508A.D. It was very impressive and left a lasting impression of
the fort’s history.

The palace
is built on the outer wall of the fort raised over the cliff at about 300ft
from ground level.

After an interesting tour of the palace we
went to see the famous Saas(mother-in-law) Bahu(daughter-in-law) mandirs(temples)
which are close to the fort.

This has a very interesting history. Initially it
was just one temple. It was named SahastraBahu, depicting a man with a thousand
hands or Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu was worshiped by the wife of the
Kachchhapaghata's king, but when his son's wife came, she became a devotee of
Lord Shiva.

Thus, another temple beside Vishnu temple was built, where Lord
Shiva was worshiped by the wife of the king's son. Collectively, these two
temples were named 'Sas-Bahu temple'.

The carvings in the temples are marvelous!

We also visited a beautiful Gurudwara which
had a ‘langar’ (free lunch for devotees) going on but we did not

partake as we
were in a hurry to go and check out the Jai Vilas Palace museum before the end
of the day.

The Jai Vilas Mahal (or The Jai Vilas
Palace) is one of India's most grandiose nineteenth-century palaces. It was
built in 1875 by H. H. Maharaja Jayaji Rao Scindia (Shinde), the Maharaja of
Gwalior and to this day remains the residence of the former royal Maratha
family – The Scindias (Shindes). A part of the palace has

been converted into a
museum and the eye catching treasures include a silver toy train used by His
Highness

Jayaji Rao Scindia to dispense brandy and cigars after dinner.

Jai Vilas Palace is open on six days of
week from 10.00 AM to 5.00 PM. It is closed on Wednesday. Contact number is
+91-751-2372390. It is a must visit when in Gwalior.

And with that our Gwalior tour ended and we
got ready to drive to Jhansi and then to Orchha the next day.

How to reach Gwalior:

By train:

Gwalior railway station is a major rail
junction on Delhi-Chennai and Delhi-Mumbai rail line. It is connected to almost
all cities like Delhi (Ndls Shatabdi E), Mumbai (Mngla Lksdp Exp), Kolkata
(Chambal Express), Chennai (Chennai Rajdhni) and Bangalore (Karnataka Exp). The railway station is located at the heart of the city.

By air:

Delhi International airport, which is
nearly 319 km from Gwalior, is the main connecting airport for international
travelers. Gwalior airport is well connected to all major cities in India and is just 8kms from the heart of the city.